Postal workers back strike action unless Royal Mail can agree a deal on pay
and working conditions.

Royal Mail workers will stage the first postal strike for four years after voting for a 24 hour industrial action on November 4.

The Communications Workers Union said four in five members had voted for strike action. Although the 63pc turnout meant that less than a third of Royal Mail’s total workforce voted for the strike.

The union, which sent ballot paper to over 115,000 staff, decided not to go for the earliest strike date, which was October 23. The window of nearly three weeks will give the company and the union another chance to negotiate to avoid strike action.

The results of the ballot came as Royal Mail shares fell on the second day of full trading on the London Stock Exchange.

Phil Hall, special adviser to ifs ProShare, said: “The decision to strike is no great surprise but is still rather disappointing. I don’t think it will have much of an impact on the long term share price but as employees are now shareholders themselves they should take this into account if balloted in the future.”

“The arguments put forward by the CWU in recent weeks are largely baseless. They say that privatisation will lead to job losses whilst ignoring the fact over 50,000 jobs have been lost during the last decade of public ownership.

The CWU, which fiercely opposed the privatisation of Royal Mail over fears it will lead to poorer job conditions and services, rejected Royal Mail's offer of a 8.6pc pay increase over three years in July, criticising proposed changes to pensions.

As part of the Royal Mail's stock market listing, almost all of the 150,000 eligible UK-based workers received free shares amounting to 10pc of the company. Royal Mail shares were trading around 470p in the afternoon, down from a high of 491p yesterday, and valuing workers' average 725-share stake at just over £3,400.

Experts said investors were not fazed by the strike action and the fall was put down in part to problems experienced by some small investors in selling their shares.

Some investors who bought Royal Mail shares through the official government website have been unable to sell their holdings on Tuesady because emails containing a vital reference number, promised yesterday, have not arrived.

The new privatised ldelivery service has appointed Barclays as its corporate broker on Wednesday.